Upbeats

by Erin Sheena Byrne

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  When I ordered everyone to hide, Smithy had sprinted to the farthest side of the room. He was now running toward Robyn.

  He was fast, as I had earlier expected. Nothing could catch him. Nothing could stop him.

  He was only a few metres away from his target, when his foot got caught on a thick, black wire. Time slowed and he seemed to be falling forever through molasses.

  Real time resumed when he landed with a loud, bone-crunching thud.

  The sound echoed through the warehouse and, of course, Gemini heard.

  We had drawn attention to ourselves. Great.

  Robyn sprang from her hiding place and helped Smithy to his feet. The rest of us knew that the game was up, so we felt as if we were as well as leaving our hiding spots, too. We all immerged, slowly, out into the open.

  We collected around each other, a pack of kids, determined not to be killed before we reached the eligible driving age.

  "A whole team of you," Gemini commented as if he was genuinely impressed. "I was wondering when a couple of new heroes would come along. I guess you stopped the Monmia, huh?"

  We said nothing. I wanted to stall for time but I couldn’t think of anything to say at that moment. My heart was pounding so hard, I was sure Gemini could hear it.

  You know how all those heroes, in the comics, movies and TV shows, how they can always say something to the bad guy. They always think of something funny, quirky, stinging or thought-provoking right at the moment they need to.

  My mind went as blank as a piece of clean note-paper. It was like suddenly being chosen to give a speech to the entire world. No time to prepare, you just had to get up there and wing it.

  That’s pretty much how I felt.

  Well, to be honest, my mind wasn’t a complete sheet of white paper. But things like: "You’ll never get away with it," or "We know what you’re up to," just didn’t seem to fit the occasion.

  I decided to rather get Gemini talking.

  "Why do you want to destroy Earth?" I asked, more like squeaked.

  If you were a bad guy, how would you respond?

  I didn’t know what kind of evil villain Gemini was supposed to be. Evil, cruel and violent or stupid, dumb and incapable of thinking long-term?

  Maybe he’d be the "shoot now, ask questions later," type.

  I sincerely hoped he wouldn’t.

  Or would he be patronizing enough to allow my stalling?

  Gemini turned to us. With every moment of silence that followed, the dread piled up higher, like a growing mountain.

  Why didn’t I just run? I asked myself.

  Then Gemini said the very last thing I expected. "You want the truth?"

  Avoiding the strong urge to let my mouth drop open, I looked at my team, for support. I nodded, uncertainly.

  "I’ve seen some human entertainment. I’m not going to start telling you my whole plan so you can just figure out some ingenious way to stop me."

  "Well, the Monmia are coming in less than two hours," Smithy said, reasonably. "Could you at least tell us why you want to do this?"

  Gemini raised an eyebrow. He paced, calmly, around us. Some might have interpreted it as a predator circling its prey. But, somehow, it didn’t quite feel like that to those of us who were actually there.

  "Fair enough, you have a right to know. It’s simple, really. These humans have an amazing planet. I mean, there is no other planet in the universe that rivals it!" Gemini was getting enthusiastic about his story. He was even smiling. "Colours, sights, sounds . . . everything people dream of. There is no planet in the universe as beautiful and diverse as Earth. And what do humans do about their planet? They ruin it. They couldn’t care less. They dump toxic waste, destroying other ecosystems, they don’t care much about the forests they flatten, they don’t think ahead, they try to fix the problems by just making a hundred new ones, and so few even appreciate what they have right in front of them! I mean: they even think this planet came about by chance! I can tell you, something so intricate and beautifully functioning like Earth does not just come about by chance.

  "Humans are so selfish and so wrapped up in themselves, they don’t even care about others! This planet deserves people who will care for it. That’s why I need to get rid of humans. They are so angry, ungrateful and . . . downbeat. This planet deserves to be cared for and appreciated. And that’s why humans need to go."

  I couldn’t argue with everything he was saying, I realized. I mean, the heroes never see eye to eye with the villains! But I couldn’t say he was totally wrong: a large majority of people were acting the way he described.

  The fire two days ago. It was started by a bunch of selfish, uncaring people who only thought of themselves. They didn’t think that what they were doing was going to hurt others. Or, they did, but couldn’t care less.

  But this was taking it to the extreme.

  "Not everyone is like that," Robyn said, echoing my and everyone else’s thoughts. "There are some people who care. And, anyway, what right do you have to kill an entire race? That’s genocide!"

  "What right do they have to live if they will not even appreciate their planet and everyone else who lives on it alongside them?" Gemini countered.

  "Because if you destroy everyone you’ll destroy the ones who do still care," Smithy said, smiling, briefly, at Robyn. He faced Gemini, determined, unwavering. "Some of us will do anything for our friends. We’d go as far as to lay down our lives for them. Yeah, maybe you’re right: not everyone on this planet is like that. But for the few that are . . . it’s worth going through all the bad to find the good, wouldn’t you agree? Out of a hundred people, someone will be grateful. Out of everyone . . . some will be . . . upbeat. We’re upbeat."

  I looked over at Smithy. He really was full of surprises: I couldn’t have said it any better myself.

  But Gemini wasn’t as touched by the speech.

  "Well, now thanks to you I’ll have to ward off the Monmia," he said, sharply. He snapped his fingers and the two guards levelled their guns like executioners. "Great to meet you, you did a fantastic job, I hate you . . . what more can I say? I don’t do the whole ‘sinister laugh’ thing."

  Everything happened so fast after that.

  The fire spread, fast and angry, roaring like a lion and caught more props. It was clear that the warehouse was going to burn to the ground. No question as to whether we had to get out or not.

  Smithy grabbed Robyn’s hand in his left and in his right; he grabbed hold of Ned’s. Robyn got the idea and reached for my hand. Ned gripped Brooke’s hand, no qualms. He didn’t have time.

  System jumped up and Brooke caught him in her free arm. He curled up like a scared kitten; eyes wide, making him look like a cartoon animal.

  "Guys, I don’t know if this is going to work so . . . see you on the other side . . . hopefully," Smithy quickly whispered to us.

  I couldn’t believe he was going to try this again.

  He couldn’t do it with one little girl, how was he going to do it with all five of us, plus a skunk?

  I didn’t want him to do it. I was about to yell out for him to stop and think but I didn’t get a chance to argue.

  I shut my eyes tight.

  I heard the fire crackling, devouring everything in the warehouse it could. I heard Gemini bark orders. I heard the bang of a gun. And an instant later, I heard all of that, still . . . but it was further away.

  I opened my eyes. Saw night sky, full of clouds but a little patch of stars managed to shine through; saw dirt littered with crushed cans and other miscellaneous junk; saw flames.

  Smithy hadn’t teleported us far. Just outside the warehouse. But it was good enough. It wedged just enough distance between us and a fuming Gemini.

  Smithy crumbled to the ground, as soon as we were on the other side of the teleport. Teleporting must’ve taken it all out of him.

  Robyn gasped and dropped to her knees.

  "Smithy? Come on, wake u
p, Smithy," she begged, shaking him gently.

  "Is he okay?" Brooke asked her, softly.

  "He’s breathing but he’s unconscious," she said. "And I think the bullet grazed his shoulder, badly."

  Well, good thing we got out that situation quick enough.

  I was ready to start giving orders at top speed, get my team to safety, when suddenly a bright light flooded the gloomy stage and a strong wind kicked up, whipping dirt into clouds around us and nearly lifting System off his little feet.

  I shielded my eyes from the harsh, white glare and looked up.

  I grinned with excitement and triumph.

  "Reinforcements," I said, approvingly. "It’s about time."